Worm Ouroboros

The lost classic masterpiece of magical realms, admired by Tolkien and the great prototype for The Lord of the Rings and modern fantasy fiction. On the far side of darkness lies a world where two mighty forces are making ready for a war of kingdom against kingdom, warrior against witch, and honour against treachery. It is a world that beckons Edward Lessingham and is totally at odds with his Edwardian background. Torn by greater passions than mere mortals can know, the adventure-loving lords of Demonland are pitted against the cruel enchantments of the witch-king Gorice XII. As swords cross with clash of steel, they begin their odyssey in glory and terror. E.R. Eddison’s masterpiece stands as one of the great prototypes of modern fantasy fiction. The intricately woven themes of high adventure, sorcery and the conflict between good and evil transport the reader to epic worlds beyond imagination.

‘The greatest and most convincing writer of invented worlds that I have read.’ – J.R.R. Tolkien ‘A new literary species, a new rhetoric, a new climate of the imagination. Every episode, every speech, helps to incarnate what the author is imagining.’ – C.S. Lewis ‘An eccentric masterpiece. Eddison is unequalled in the vigour, the vividness, the passionate intensity of his imagining, the brooding sadness that underlies it, and the cockeyed magnificence of his language.’ – Ursula K. Le Guin ‘A fantasy epic written in a lush, thick, cod-Elizabethan style that started off irritating and then became part of the fun.’ – Neil Gaiman ‘The greatest high fantasy of them all.’ – Robert Silverberg ‘A grand fantasy adventure.’ – Piers Anthony ‘Authentic dream, fantastic far beyond invention and natural beyond all possibility of unbelief.’ – Arthur Ransome ‘A romance of a world that never was … its landscapes are magnificent. One lives in it.’ – Hilaire Belloc

Eric Rucker Eddison was born in Adel, England, in 1882. His parents encouraged his spirited imagination. Boyhood days spent reading and adventuring in the northern English countryside with his constant companion, Arthur Ransome, provided rich material for his novels. Eddison was twice honoured, receiving the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1924) and the Order of the Bath (1929) for public service with the Board of Trade. His writings include the first complete translation of the Icelandic epic, Egil’s Saga; the novels The Worm Oroboros and Stybiorn the Strong; and the trilogy Zimiamvia, including Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and the final book, The Mezentian Gate, which was left unfinished when he died suddenly of a stroke in 1945.